Slipped Away
by Akazy
Summary: I never once forget that feeling, of when we’re still together. But now you’re gone… to someplace I can’t ever reach. All I’ve wanted… was to be by your side, forever, but… it’s not possible anymore.
1. Warning

**Slipped Away**

**Drop 1: Warning**

**Summary:** I never once forget that feeling, of when we're still together. But now you're gone… to someplace I can't ever reach. All I've wanted… was to be by your side, forever, but… it's not possible anymore.

**Disclaimer:** If I own Tenipuri, Hyotei'd _so_ be the main school, & Jirou'd have _WAY_ more screen time!

Hi there! As I was laying around at night thinking up ideas for stories, it stuck me that I've never made a really sad/tragic story before, so here it is! And Fuji & Ryoma kinda fits the role, so yea. Read on to see how I did at attempting to write a sad story.

* * *

"Game set: 7-5, won by Fuji Syusuke!" a light brown hair boy declared, smiling happily at his opponent. 

"Che…" the other boy pulled his cap down, muttering some curses under his breath.

"Ah, that was a nice game, isn't it Ryoma-kun? Sadly you're still mada mada dane, though." The boy who won grins slightly and sat down on a bench, gulping down some water from a bottle.

"Urg… Fuji-sempai!" the shorter boy shouted out, obviously flustered at the fact that his own catchphrase is being used against him.

"Haha… well, I must say, even though I won, it was a fairly hard win for me. You've improved greatly since last year, Ryoma-kun."

"Of course." Said boy smirked, head lifted up to gaze cockily at his sempai. "I'll beat you in no time, just you wait and see. It won't be too long from now."

"Oh? I'm looking forward to it then." Fuji said, then started to stand up and turns around. "I'm going to the bathroom, be right back."

"Okay." Ryoma then make his way towards the vending machines not too far off. What should he get today, grape ponta, his ultimate favorite, or the new flavor, called tripleberry mix ponta?

-o-o-o-o-

Just a few yards away, Fuji had just gotten out of the bathroom and was in the middle of washing his hands. Suddenly, he feels the need to start coughing. Figuring it must be due to the wasabi sushi he ate earlier today, he shrugged it off and reach for the heat machine to air-dry his hands. Just when he was done and was about to head towards the exit, he has this urge to start coughing again. This time, his throat feel soar, and when he's done, he swears that he can taste something… odd yet familiar in his mouth, he reaches over to the sink to spit it out when he saw himself in the mirror…

There was something red on a side of his lips, like a drop of liquid of some kind. Eyes widening at the realization, Fuji bend his head down and spit out that liquid inside his mouth…

Red started to drizzle out across the sink and slowly creep its way down to the bottom. Fuji stares in shock for a few second before turning the knob quickly and watch the crimson liquid flowed down the hole. Then he proceeds to wash his mouth which was now colored by a red darker than that of a normal color of his lips.

_Okay, so I cough up blood…_ the Seigaku tensai thought to himself, _no big deal. People cough up blood all the time when they're exhausted. It's probably due to the stress of the end of year coming up and studying for all those final exams-exhaustion, they said._ Content with his reasons, he wipes his now-wet mouth with a tissue before discarding it into a nearby trashcan and heads outside.

Though he knew deep inside that he was not stressing out at all about any exams because he has been fully prepared for them. It was not exhaustions at all.

-o-o-o-o-

"What took you so long, Fuji-sempai?" Ryoma asks, sitting on a bench, contently sipping his ponta.

"Nothing." The brunette replied. _It __**is**__ probably nothing, coughing up blood wasn't that big of a deal_, he told himself. "By the way, Ryoma-kun," he switched topics, hoping the younger boy would not find out there's anything wrong with him, "when are you going to stop calling me that? We've been going out for more than 2 years now. It's about time you call me 'Syusuke', hmnn?"

"W-What…? You want me to call you 'Syusuke'…?" Ryoma stutters out.

"Yeah. We've known each other well enough now, don't you think? And next year we'll finally be in the same school again! I feel sad that I call you 'Ryoma' while you still refer to me as 'Fuji-sempai'."

"W-Well, if that's what you want, Fu- I mean, Syusuke, then I guess that's fine." Ryoma mutters out, pulling his cap way down. Fuji can't help but smile at seeing his boyfriend obviously blushing like that- he looks too cute!

"I'm really happy, Ryo-" he suddenly stopped his sentence, making Ryoma puzzled and lift his head up to see. Fuji was holding his stomach on one hand and the other hand was covering his mouth. He looked like he was shaking.

"Syusuke? What's wrong?"

"Noth-" Fuji was unable to finish his sentence once again as a barrage of coughs disrupted the still of the park. He now remembers why he stopped his sentence in the first place-it was to restrain the coughing fits he can feel happening as he spoke and therefore promptly shut his mouth close. It's too late now though.

"S-Syusuke, are you okay?" the young boy was starting to worry now. Fuji seems like he was coughing nonstop. "Do you want some water or something."

"I-I'm fine." Fuji tried his best to restrain his coughs. Finally he was able to stop. "Must've been something I ate, that's all…" Fuji was about to say more but he was struck speechless when he happens to look down to his palm, the one he was covering his mouth with as he coughed, to see it fill with blood.

"Nee, Ryoma," he quickly clenched his fist, "I just remember nee-san told me to come home soon today to help her cook dinner. Let's hang out tomorrow, okay?" with that, Fuji did his best to put on that smile, the true smile, for no doubt Ryoma can tell his fake ones from his real one.

"All right." Ryoma eyes him cautiously, "I'll see you tomorrow then. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, of course I'm fine." again, with the smile, _please don't notice, please don't notice._

"I'll be going then. I'll call you tomorrow."

"Bye!" and with that, Ryoma turned around and left, leaving Fuji to sit alone on that bench. The tensai sighed as he leaned back towards the backrest. Despite his outer appearance, Ryoma does tend to get really worried when it's involving someone close to him, and the last thing Fuji wants is to have Ryoma worries over him when it's just something… this trifling.

He closes his eyes for a few moment, then when he opens it, he stares at his palm, now soaked in red, and a few of them had dripped down his wrist. Has it really been that much blood? Tiredly, Fuji made his way to the bathroom-again-to clean out his hand. Guess he should go to the doctor sometime soon to have a check-up, just to see if there's anything wrong. Though really, what are the chances? He was a perfectly healthy 17-years-old boy, if just a bit on the skinny side. He plays tennis and thus exercise regularly, doesn't smoke or drink, and his family doesn't have a history of anyone suffering a terrible and incurable disease. What are the chances **he'll** have it, out of all people?

As he later thought back to this moment, he bitterly admits that the chances that it'll happen to him out of all people _are, _indeed, very low, but it's not like it's impossible, either. No, not impossible at all, and when he found out about it, it was already too late.

* * *

There goes chapt. 1! I have the whole story planned out already, down to the ending. Probably around 3-4 chapters or something. This story has 2 of mah 1sts: my 1st thrill pair fic, & my 1st tragedy ever! Whaaahhh!!! (I don't even know if that's good or bad…? -.-) So **feel free to review away and tell me how I did!** Next chapt.'ll be release pretty quickly since I already have it half-done, so please look forward to it. 

Until then, ja-ne!!


	2. Reality

**Slipped Away**

**Drop 2: Reality**

**Disclaimer: **If I own Tenipuri, Fuji'd open his pretty blue eyes 98 percent of the time. Seeing as how it's opposite of that… -.- you can figure it out.

Here's chapter 2! It's a bit longer this time, as I want to make this story finish sooner. Thankx to all those who reviewed! To **yamatoforever**: wow, you're really good at guessing!! Well, read on to see how Fuji'd react!

* * *

Fuji wake up having a horrible headache. He barely was able to lift himself off the bed when he drops down to the floor, hands holding his head shakily. These 'episodes' seems to happen more frequently lately, but after a few minutes of holding still, the pain eventually subsided and he was able to continue whatever he was doing before. He was perplexed about it, yes, but there was something inside his head, a voice telling him not to find out what's wrong, to go have himself checked. 

Perhaps it was self-denial that there can't possibly be anything wrong with the tensai, or… that he was _afraid_ to find out the truth… and thus he carried on everyday normally, acting as if there's nothing wrong.

But then the headaches got worse. One afternoon when Fuji was playing a game with Eiji at tennis practice, his brain just blacked out for a moment. The ball bounced right past him and he apologized and said that he wasn't paying attention to his opponent. But then as he throws the ball up to serve in the next game, he swears that he could see two balls coming down at him, and by reflex, he jerked away. The ball drops straight down and bounce twice before rolling away at his feet.

"Nya, Fuji, is something wrong?" his best friend was starting to look a little wary, after all, Eiji was winning 4-2, against the tensai!

"Ah, it's nothing Eiji. I'm just a bit tired today, that's all." and he put on his smile, pleasant as always.

"Then maybe you should take a rest, Fuji. It's not good to overexert yourself." suggest Eiji.

"Mnn… maybe I should." with that, Fuji turned around and ask Tezuka permission to rest in the clubroom for awhile. When the captain nodded, he quickly makes his way to the place, as the headache was starting to comeback and he felt like coughing again. _Please don't let me cough up blood in front of everyone,_ Fuji prayed as he tried all he can to suppress that urge, _not now, just a few more seconds and I'll be alone…_

Throughout that whole time, a pair of big, bright golden eyes were looking at him, watching his every move, brimming with worry. _There's something wrong with Syusuke and he's not telling me about it, _the freshman regular contemplates,_ in fact, he's not telling anybody about it at all…_

-o-o-o-o-

"Syusuke, is something wrong?" Yumiko asks as she was setting the plates and spoons down for dinner.

Fuji barely flinch before he goes back to what he was doing, smile ever so present. "Nothing's wrong, why?"

"Well, didn't you already water Cecily this morning before you went to school? And I thought I saw you doing it again right after you got home. Don't you think watering her a third time might… be dangerous to her?"

The tensai widens his eyes in surprise and stared at Cecily-his newest addition to the cacti collection-had he really watered her already? _Twice_ before, no less? "Oh… really… it seems I must've forgotten then. Hahaha…" Honestly, he really didn't remember doing that, but…

"Are you sure you're okay? You've been kind of strange lately. Like yesterday you called me to pick you up from school when you've already told me about it in the morning. And now… this isn't like you, Syusuke…"

"Haha nee-san, don't worry I'm fine. Maybe all that year-end exams is getting to me. It's alright." Fuji flashed a smile at her and walks away before she can voice her concern anymore.

Fuji went to his room and promptly closes the door behind him. _Damn it! What's wrong with me lately…?! First I hacked off blood, than I started having all these headaches and now I do things only to not recall them later on!_ He mentally shouts in his mind-since his parents and Yumiko are home, after all. _I can't let this go on much longer… _his eyes narrows and he reaches in his backpack to grab his cell phone. Dialing the number, he made sure to talk very quietly to the receiver in case his parents can overhear him in the next room.

-o-o-o-o-

It's been a week since Fuji went to Oishi's uncle for a check-up. He _did_ feel a bit hesitant since it is a relative of Oishi and he might find out about it, but the doctor, no matter who he is related to, is still a doctor, and had promised to confidentiality about his visit. And besides, if something _is_ wrong with him, he does feel a bit more secure from having someone he knows find out about it.

_Not that I think there's something wrong with me, of course,_ Fuji assures himself, _**no**__, this is just merely a precaution. Just to make sure that there really __**isn't**__, right… _the tensai keeps on repeating these words over and over to himself as he walks to the hospital. Oishi-san had told him to come back after a week for the results, and thus Fuji finds himself in front of that blank white door again, as a nurse opens it out for him and told him to come inside.

Oishi-san sat at his desk, looking concentrated at some papers before him. He looks up to the sound of the door opening and looks at Fuji, who despite that ever-present smile on his face and seemingly close eyes, the shoulders looks a bit tense and one of his hand was slightly clenching.

"Ah, Fuji, good morning! Came here for your results, didn't you?" the doctor smiled brightly at the boy, and gestures for him to sit down. "Make yourself comfortable, since this might take awhile."

"…What do you mean?" the brunette flinch slightly as he sat down, barely feeling comfortable.

"Well…" he had really always hated telling his patients these stuff-it's one of the downside to being a doctor. "I'm afraid I have some good news and bad news for you… which one would you like to hear first?"

Fuji narrows his eyebrows. _Bad news…? You've got to be kidding me. No way…_ But all he said instead was, "It doesn't matter to me.", keeping a perfectly cool face.

"…Let's start with the good news first, then, shall we?" when his patient barely nods in return, the doctor smile nervously and started, "Well, see, when we diagnosed you last week, we found this tumor in your lung… that doesn't quite need to be there. It's supposedly a benign tumor, though it's starting to show signs of being malignant, thus the reason why you've been coughing up blood…"

Fuji steadies himself in his seat. _Malignant tumor? Isn't that… cancer…? That's…_

"The **good** news is that it's still not quite cancerous yet, though, for luckily, we discovered it pretty soon," Oishi-san quickly said to interrupt Fuji's train of thought, "so with just an operation, we can remove it and stop it from spreading out and harming you!" _more than it already has, that is…_ the doctor quietly thought to himself.

"I see." _Good, so I don't have cancer…_ he barely was able to sigh in relieve when he remembers what was said at the beginning, "And the bad news is…?"

Oishi-san swallows slightly as he prepares to announce to his nephew's friend about his other discovery. It's things like this that he wishes that he hasn't chosen this career path. "The bad news is… that that tumor in your lung had somehow spread to another part of your body-your brain. And while the one in your lung isn't quite developing so quickly and is still manageable, the newly-developed tumor in your brain is, so…"

"So…?" oh god, he can hear it now, those words that will doom him his life, that feeling… the headache is starting to resurface…

"I'm afraid you've been diagnosed with metastatic brain cancer, Fuji-kun." The doctor blurts out, looking pained.

The brunette was barely seated for another two seconds when he shot up from his seat, exclaiming "**WHAT??!!**" with his deep blue eyes wide opened. Fuji is known to be calm, cool, and collected at most times, but hearing from a doctor saying you have cancer is not, **definitely **_**not**_, one of those times.

"It's… I don't want to say this, but as a doctor, I have to…" Oishi-san closes his eyes for a moment before opening it and continues, "That tumor in your brain is very cancerous, Fuji-kun, and had somehow spread at a much rapid rate than the one in your lung, so it's… you're at a pretty late stage of it." Fuji widens his eyes in horror. "It's spread all over your brain already, and that's probably why you have these headaches and memory loss… I'm sorry but I don't think the prognosis is very… good." The doctor closes his eyes again, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose.

Fuji froze for a few more seconds before he burst out laughing. "Hahaha!! No way!! You're kidding, right Oishi-san? That can't be!!! Me-have brain cancer!!" he started to laugh uncontrollably, while Oishi's uncle tried to calm him down. "I _can't_ have cancer!! This is a joke… a total joke!!!! Hahahaha…!!"

"Fuji-kun, please calm down, you—"

"Calm down?!!!" Fuji immediately stops his laughing and shot an icy glare at the other man, his fist clench hard by his side. "I've just been told that I have cancer, and you told me to **calm down??!!**"

"Well, we can try to opera—"

"An operation?! I'm not stupid, once you have cancer, you'll **die** sooner or later!!! And didn't you just said that the survival rate isn't very high??!!"

Oishi-san winces and drops his hand down. He doesn't really know what to say about this. He has told other people about bad news before, but certainly not to his nephew's friend, not to someone he knows. "I…"

"I… I have to go." Fuji said and abruptly sprints to the door. He can feel the tears welling up in his eyes, threatening to fall out. But as he turns the doorknob, he stops and stands there for a moment. "You… will not say anything to anyone, alright? Not to anyone at all, whether it'd be Oishi or my parents or **anyone!!**"

"But Fuji-kun, you—" he was cut off a third time.

"You promised confidentiality!! I—" he chokes, voice crackling, and god he _knows_ that there are tears pouring out, damn it!-but he can't stop it, he can't… "Just… _please_, Oishi-san, don't tell anyone." his voice was that of begging, but he doesn't know what else to do. "I want to handle this on my own… **PLEASE…!!!**"

"…All right." The doctor promised hesitantly. He knew he shouldn't, but there is that confidentiality thing, and if his patient wants to handle it by himself…

"…Thank you." with that, Fuji bolted out of the room, running out blindly. He doesn't care when he accidentally hits other people, doesn't care about all those "Hey!" or "Watch it!". He doesn't care when the lady at the reception desk shout at him to not run, and didn't he know that this is a hospital, he just keep on running straight outside, past the bustling street, the people walking by throwing occasional glances at him.

He also doesn't care that his tears are streaming out, running endlessly. He just ran on, never stopping.

-o-o-o-o-

Fuji opens the door to his house and promptly run upstairs before shutting the door to his room close. He then plops onto the bed with a loud THUMP! before shutting his eyes close, exhausted from all the running. Good thing his parents are at work and his sister is at a friend's, otherwise he wouldn't know what to do.

…what to do…

The brunette opens his eyes and stares up at the ceiling, watching as his fan turns round and round with an occasional squeak every now and then. The house is so quiet… so at _peace_! Like how his life was, barely 30 minutes earlier. _I wonder if death is like this too, _Fuji smile slightly as the fan on the ceiling keeps on twirling around, _just silence, never-ending, a 'nothingness'… well, doesn't matter, I suppose, _he chuckles bitterly at himself, _I'll find out soon enough anyway._

And then he can feel the tears coming back, temporarily forgotten a few minutes earlier, and the fan just keeps on spinning and spinning and oh god he doesn't know what to do anymore. He put his hands on his face, turning around and sobs silently against the pillow.

_What am I going to do…? How am I going to tell this to everyone…? To otou-san and oka-san, to nee-san and to Yuuta…? Most of all, how am I going to say this to Ryoma? Be like, 'hey Ryoma guess what I have brain cancer and I'll die pretty soon so what do you think?' …I can't do it…!!_ Fuji was sobbing harder and louder now, but his voice is still muffle by the pillow. As his tears keep on spilling, he can feel that headache earlier coming back to haunt him, and he can't think straight anymore and _oh god what can I do? What __**should**__ I do?!_

_Ryoma… Please, save me…_

-o-o-o-o-

Ryoma is worry. He really is. Syusuke is acting so strange lately, almost distance, that he was surprised when the tensai asked to meet him at a park, that very same park where he first requested Ryoma to call him 'Syusuke'.

Changing into a T-shirt and jeans, Ryoma was slightly confused when Fuji said he didn't need to bring his tennis and other stuff along, since they usually play tennis at that park, but he shrugs it off and heads outside.

He found his boyfriend sitting on a bench looking at some pigeons nearby, and can't help but smile. He loves seeing Syusuke like that, his expression just so tranquil… so beautiful that it's breathtaking.

"Nee Syusuke!" Ryoma calls out happily, and as always, Fuji smiles at him.

"Ryoma-kun, konnichiwa."

"So why are we here, Syusuke? Since we're not playing tennis and all, you want to walk around the park or something?" he asked, sitting next to the older man.

"…I… actually wanted to call you out today to tell you something." Ryoma was surprised when Fuji looks straight at him, eyes open with seriousness.

"What is it? Something wrong?"

"Ryoma, Let's break up."

And with those words, his world came crumbling down, abruptly shattering at his feet.

* * *

And there's chapter 2!! This is actually the longest chapter I've ever typed in my life. I… for some reason, the flow of this chapter actually came out pretty smooth for me. Sorry for the lengthy medical explanation, and not a lot of FujiRyo. Don't worry, now that the cause is out of the way, there'll be lots of Thrill Pair next chapt. 

Sorry if some of the wording's a little strange. I'm typing this at like, 6 am & I haven't slept a wink. 0.o Also if Fuji seemed OC, but I don't think he'd act so casually if he haf cancer… so yeah. My health class has this assignment where I can choose to research on a disease & guess wat I chose: Brain Cancer!! That's right!! So it's convenient since I haf to research 'bout it anyway fer this story lol!

That being said, thankx fer reading, **hope u review**, & see u next chapter!!!


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